Film 'Dom' at SFF: A Journey into Memories of a Childhood Shattered by War in Sarajevo

(Patria) - DOM, an Italian-Bosnian documentary film directed by Massimiliano Batistella, which opens the Venice Nights section during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, will have its world pre-premiere at this year's Sarajevo Film Festival on Friday, August 22 at 6 p.m. at Cineplexx.

The documentary was produced by Riccardo Biadene of KAMA Productions in Rome, in co-production with Ivana Cvetković Bajrović of Method and Nihad Kreševljaković of MESS Sarajevo, with the participation of Global Film Partners from Amsterdam.

DOM follows forty-year-old Mirela, who in 1992 during the siege of Sarajevo was evacuated to Italy as one of 66 children from the Home for Children without Parental Care on Bjelave. Mirela, who now lives in Rimini with her family, embarks on a journey to Sarajevo to reconcile with her past and wounded identity, to search for her mother, and to meet those who remained in the Home during the siege.

Through encounters with childhood friends, the film interweaves individual memory and collective history, giving voice to those who as children experienced one of the worst tragedies of post-war Europe. Enriched with valuable archival material and music by Bosnian composer Nedim Zlatar, the film follows the protagonist's perspective in a poetic way, placing children at the center of the discourse.

"During filming, a creative and emotional dialogue was established, supported by the psychodrama method thanks to the risk taken by Riccardo Biadene, a brave producer who invested in a valuable collaboration with psychodramaturgist Lisa Pazzaglia, a very unusual professional figure in the film context," explains the director.

"DOM represents a deeply personal but universal story about the strength of the human spirit and the search for belonging. By telling Mirela's story, I wanted – together with her – to stand by all those children whom war tears from their lives and thus condemns to an eternal search for their roots; it is an extremely painful experience that few, including Mirela, manage to overcome," says Batistella.